A girl's journey after her grandma tried to kill her

I worry that my reporting recently from Africa about President Donald Trump's aid cuts may leave a misimpression that villagers and refugees are helpless flotsam, simply the fragile victims of crises instigated in Washington.

- COMMENTARY Nicholas D Kristof

Not true! People in the poorest countries are often, of necessity, masters of strength, adaptability and resilience. They weep as any of us would as their children die because of reckless decisions in Washington, but we in the rich world could learn so much from their fortitude in fighting against impossible odds.

Which brings me to Chantale Zuzi.

Ms Zuzi, who is inspiration personified, was born with albinism about 23 years ago (she's not sure of her exact birth date) in a hut in a village in Congo. It was an inauspicious beginning: Her maternal grandmother wanted to kill her, thinking that her pale skin was a curse. Fortunately, her parents protected her.

The fifth of 10 children, Ms Zuzi was an excellent student, but school in the village was terrifying. The teacher beat students who gave wrong answers, few girls attended, and in any case, children had no textbooks. Other students refused to touch Ms Zuzi because of her skin colour, fearing that albinism was contagious.

Then, in June 2014, catastrophe: A rival ethnic group attacked her village, burned her home and murdered her parents.

Her oldest brother led the other nine children to safety in Uganda, where they arrived with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. At 13, Ms Zuzi was now an orphan and an elementary school dropout, living in a refugee settlement and spending her days looking after her younger siblings.

But life was dangerous for people with albinism, for in parts of Africa, they are sometimes killed so that their body parts can be used for witchcraft. So at 16, feeling unsafe, Ms Zuzi fled by herself to Nairobi, Kenya.

"I didn't understand that there is a border, and you have to have a visa," she recalled. Lacking even a passport, she boldly walked across the border, and no one stopped her.